Will Barnet was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1911. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1927 to 1930 and cites his experiences with the School’s “rigorous curriculum” as very influential in his artistic career. Barnet studied, and later taught, at the Art Students League of New York, where he became the institution’s official printmaker. Barnet’s style has evolved from his early work—abstract paintings heavily influenced by Native American art and the Indian Space movement—to later figurative works dealing with visual tropes of New England, such as women looking out to sea. He is most famous for his abstract paintings but many critics underestimate the continuity of his body of work; an interest in the formal elements of composition and painting persist in his figurative pieces, including this self-portrait. The artist references his figurative style as linking to the “clear-edge” geometric abstraction of his earlier work. This painting is the only self-portrait Barnett ever created.

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